How the Leopard Changed Its Spots The Evolution of Complexity [Paperback]

Do genes explain life? Can advances in evolutionary and molecular biology account for what we look like, how we behave, and why we die? In this powerful intervention into current biological thinking, Brian Goodwin argues that such genetic reductionism has important limits.

Drawing on the sciences of complexity, the author shows how an understanding of the self-organizing patterns of networks is necessary for making sense of nature. Genes are important, but only as part of a process constrained by environment, physical laws, and the universal tendencies of complex adaptive systems. In a new preface for this edition, Goodwin reflects on the advances in both genetics and the sciences of complexity since the book's original publication.

Brian Goodwinis Professor of Biology and Coordinator of Holistic Science at Schumacher College, Devon, UK. He is the editor ofTheoretical Biology: Epigenetic and Evolutionary Order from Complex Systemsand the coauthor ofForm and Transformation and Signs of Life. [Goodwin's] book genuinely illuminates the mysteries of biological development. ---David Papineau,New York Times This is a brilliant book, wonderfully written. . . . Goodwin is a real scholar, of great breadth and insight. He writes beautifully, conveying difficult themes in an exciting manner. Simon Levin, Princeton University